Textile Sustainability: reuse of wastes from the textile and clothing industry in Brazil

Abstract

The negative impact of the textile industry in the in the world is not new. The textile waste management is a today’s problem but will be even bigger for the future generations if we do nothing. But, though very insipid, there are already new approaches to solve the problem, and two examples come from Brazil. In this work we are carrying out as a qualitative research (case study’s) about tow textile waste management organizations: the “Clothing Bank of CS-RGS” and the “Reusable Fabric Bank of SP”. Both unities offer a textile waste management systems with a sustainable redirection of textile waste or material that would no longer be used, allowing the extension of the Life Cycles and add value to it. The result shows that these systems do not prioritize in a balanced way, the 3 dimensions of sustainability (environment, economic and social-cultural).